5 Tips : Formatting your Thesis

Microsoft Office is one of the most popular office suites out there. Microsoft Word is our go-to program for formatting books. Learn these key features for efficiency and a consistant professional looking document.

Here are 5 tips you need to know! Setup your document right at the start and the rest will be a breeze.

1. PAGE SIZE

Often forgotten about but make sure your page is set as A4 not US Letter, which can be default in some versions of Word.

To set your page size, from the top menu-

Select "PAGE LAYOUT"

Select "SIZE"

Select "A4"

2. MARGINS

Margins are very important when it comes to binding. No margins = Text/images cut off in the binding process.

For single sided printing we recommend a margin of 3cm on the left side and 2.5cms on the other three sides.For double sided printing we recommend a margin of 2.5cms on all four sides.

To set your page margin, from the top menu-

Select "PAGE LAYOUT"

Select "MARGINS"

Input "top, left, bottom and right" sizes as per requirements

3. STYLES MENU

The styles menu is an absolute must for any document! What are styles? Styles is pre-defined formatting that you can use repeatedly throughout your thesis. Want all your headers/subheadings/paragraphs to be formatted the same, use the styles menu.Also, if you use styles, it brings me to my next tip "Automatic TOC"